Wednesday 16 June 2021

The Fall - Enigrammatic Dreams

 


So, here's another compilation of The Fall! The idea for this came when I was looking at the excellent blog The Fall In Fives, reading about the many songs the band have covered throughout the years. So I decided to compile my favourites from the songs listed, never realising there'd been so many. Some you'd hardly recognise from the original, some you might think they've absolutely ruined, some you might think totally surpass the original recording. But they all have one thing in common, the distinct sound of Mark E Smith interpreting them in his own "enigrammatic" way.

More detailed info such as origin of each recording by the band is included in the download file. I've also taken the extra step of including who the original artist of each song was in the tracklisting below. Hope you all enjoy!



01. I Can Hear the Grass Grow (2:48)
Original artist: The Move (1967)
02. F-' Oldin' Money (2:45)
Original artist: Tommy Blake (1959)
03. Strangetown (2:44)
Original artist: The Groundhogs (1970), the original was called 'Strange Town'
04. Popcorn Double Feature (3:40)
Original artist: The Searchers (1967)
05. Kimble (3:53)
Original artist: The Creators (1968)
06. Bourgeois Town (3:39)
Original artist: Lead Belly (1938), original title was 'Bourgeois Blues'
07. Last Chance to Turn Around (3:24)
Original artist: Gene Pitney (1965)
08. War (2:34)
Original artist: Henry Cow / Slapp Happy (1975)
09. Just Waiting (4:35)
Original artist: Hank Williams (as 'Luke The Drifter') (1951)
10. I'm Not Satisfied (2:56)
Original artist: Frank Zappa and the Mothers of Invention (1966)
11. Gotta See Jane (2:22)
Original artist: R Dean Taylor (1968)
12. Funnel of Love (2:54)
Original artist: Wanda Jackson (1961)
13. Rollin' Dany (2:22)
Original artist: Gene Vincent (1958), original was called 'Rollin' Danny'
14. Victoria (2:42)
Original artist: The Kinks (1969)
15. Lost in Music (Mix 7) (4:34)
Original artist: Sister Sledge (1979)
16. Pinball Machine (2:50)
Original artist: Lonnie Irving (1960)
17. White Lightning (2:12)
Original artist: The Big Bopper (1958)
18. Beatle Bones 'n' Smokin' Stones (3:38)
Original artist: Captain Beefheart & His Magic Band (1968)
19. Why Are People Grudgeful? (4:25)
Original artist: Joe Gibbs / Lee Perry (1968). An amalgamation of two similar songs, 'People Grudgeful' by Joe Gibbs and 'People Funny Boy' by Lee Perry.
20. Mr. Pharmacist (2:17)
Original artist: The Other Half (1966)
21. Black Monk Theme Part 1 (4:28)
Original artist: Monks (1966), original title was 'I Hate You'.
22. I'm Going to Spain (3:26)
Original artist: Steve Bent (1976)
23. Jerusalem (7:01)
Written by: William Blake (words) / Hubert Parry (music)
Not a straightforward cover, but some of the words were taken from Blake's 1804 poem 'And did those Feet in Ancient Time' that Sir Hubert Parry turned into the hymn 'Jerusalem' in 1916 (from which the main melody and bass line of the Fall is derived).


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7 comments:

Anonymous said...

I didn't know The Fall had covered a Groundhogs song (every home should have a copy of Split!): this is going to be an absolute delight, thanks very much!

jonder said...

Anonymous, you will be pleased to know that The Fall covered two Groundhogs songs (the other being "Junk Man" on Middle Class Revolt).

MAD4MUSIC said...

A great idea for a comp! Can’t wait to listen!

zipper said...

Looks good and I'm sure will sound good too. Thanks SB.

Daniel Maier said...

Hello. Late to this but I compiled a CD of the originals of many of these for Ace a few years back, approved by the man himself.

https://acerecords.co.uk/before-the-fall

Cheers!

slugbucket said...

Thanks for the comments everyone. I really enjoyed compiling this one.
Daniel, that looks like an excellent compilation, I'll have to try and seek that out. I have most of the songs on it but it'd be nice to hear how it works as a compilation. Being approved by the man himself is even more impressive considering he was usually hard to impress! Cheers.

WmPerry said...

"Pinball Machine" Only Mark could have seen that it was a great David Cronenburg sort of descent into a specific Hell.
"lost all my friends, can't sleep for bad dreams
the victim of an old truck and a pinball machine"
The gene vincent covers are just good lost songs, as is "Ican hear the grass grow". The fall was the 1st time i'd heard it, though i think it wa s mentioned in joe boyd's book "White Bicycles"